A Lonnng Trip To Lexington

I mentioned in my beauty blog that my husbands motorcycle for lack of a better word "took a shit" on him and wouldn't switch gears so he couldn't make it home from work and I had to go get him.

To add insult to injury, he just acquired this bike not even 3 weeks ago after much deliberation over what kind of bike he was going to get and traveling over 2 1/2 hours each way from Fort Bragg to Lexington, NC to get the bike from Garwood Customs since every motorcycle shop in the Fort Bragg area is grossly over priced since they know these young "Joes" will spend the cash on a lean, mean, speed machine :) .

So he was pretty smart about where he wanted to buy his bike and the price he was willing to pay so we were up for the road trip. But if the distance wasn't enough to tick you off when the bike wasn't working, the trials and tribulations just for him to ride the damn ting would. 

Not only did he have to take the written exam to get a daytime riding permit, but he can not ride on post AT ALL (which is where we live btw) without taking and completing the 2 day motorcycle safety course (which he had to wait a week to take so you know he was super anxious to ride his new toy ;) ) and he had to get an additional "ok" from his commander. All of this took about 2 weeks. 

Because of all of the motorcycle related fatalities involving soldiers, the ARMY has not left anything to chance in the extremes it takes for one to ride. You also MUST wear a DOT approved helmet, riding gloves, boots, long sleeve pants, long sleeve shirt or jacket and a reflective belt EVERYTIME you ride, no matter what. Even if it it 120 degrees outside.

So with all of that you can imagine that in Jermaine's 4th time riding the bike, it breaking down was a huge morale buster. 

So off we were to Lexington to figure out what the hell was going on. 

Ofcourse 2 hours later we arrive at the shop and the shop owner takes a look at the bike, cranks it on and what the hell do you know; it's working fine. 

WHAT?!? Don't you absolutely HATE when that happens??

However, we knew something was wrong with it. Especially since I had to help him load the bike and I saw what he was talking about before we loaded it. It would barely move. And we did not just make this long trip for nothing. 

Thankfully, for good measure the owner replaced some minor gizmos and gadgets on the clutch area just in case that could have caused the malfunction and 30 mins later we were off back on the road home. 

Yippie.

Tinkering with his "Green Machine" (we're not set on the name yet, lol) 

 During one of the multiple rides to Lexington.

 Much needed energy!..but this tasted like crap though.

Kaeden rocking daddies helmet!

 And of course breakfast before we got on the road and a big cup of coffee.

Til next time.

xoxo

Carolina Fresh

I have completely been obsessing over melon lately.

Any fresh fruit really.

I picked up some cantaloupe and locally grown strawberries. 

They go perfectly with a whole wheat breakfast sandwich with egg white and turkey sausage.

 Last night we dined on a spread of commissary sushi.
Not the best sushi I have ever had, but definitely not the worst.
Anyone who's had sushi from the commissary knows it definitely can be crappy, but surprisingly last night arrangement was pretty fresh since I had picked them up just as they were putting them out.

 This mornings breakfast was a re-run of fresh melon and strawberries along with a chicken sausage and egg white roll up.

 Oh and of course I treated myself to a few pieces of chocolate for good measure...

 Completely gratuitous bathroom picture with the flash...awesome...

xoxo

Oatmeal and True Blood

This morning I woke up with a hankering for hot oats.
Usually I will make over night soaked oats or cold quick oats as i've mentioned before, but I totally wasn't in the mood for that.
Maybe it's because the weather has been quite cold and windy so I need the warmth of the oats to make me feel all nice a toasty.

In these I cooked them in water, added chopped pear, crushed raw almonds, cinnamon and agave.
They were fantastic.

Meanwhile, as I was tearing up this delectible breakfast, I finally got to finish the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse Series; "Dead Until Dark" which is what the popular series True Blood is based on.

I absolutely ADORE the show and decided to give reading the series a go.

And I must say, I LOVE it of course!!

I will definitely say the book and the series are very similar in a lot of ways, but the show definitely adds some fresh elements and characters that the book does not have.

I am really excited to read the second book in the series to see what happens next!!

Have you read anything good lately?

Magazines & Sandbags

I have an obscene collection of fitness magazines.
Like seriously almost on hoarder status.
And this isn't even all of them.
It's kind of my addiction.
Oh how I love it so.

I decided to put them to good use and repurpose a notebook I use as an organizer that I will be posted here.

This is my ultimate sandbag.
And I wreck shit with it.
Well theoretically speaking, I wreck my body with it.
And oh do I wreck it good.
When my husband got into a car accident the first thing I grabbed out of the car was this bad boy in the back.
I didn't care that my car was smashed up.
Or what the hell I was going to do about a new car.
But make sure I get my damn sandbag.
I love dead lifting, clean & pressing, and squatting with it.
I got mine from here. Mine is the older version, but still works just as well.
Even if I can't make it to the gym, I do a couple a sets of those exercises in my living room fo a great burn.

What is your favorite piece of fitness equipment??

Movie Night: The Grey

(Courtesy of IMDB)

Friday nights are usually date nights in the Foxx house, but since it's spring break for KJ and the husband is on leave, we decided to make tonight date night. 

KJ got dropped off at the sitters and we had us a fancy dinner at Red Lobster(hahaha), and decided to watch The Grey.

Synopsis courtesy of IMDB : After their plane crashes in Alaska, seven oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.

This movie was absolutely crazy!! Action packed and thrilling through out! I had no idea what to expect, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised by this film.

I definitely give it a 8 out of 10!

What new movies have you guys seen?

Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine

I love my George Foreman grill.
I think it is quite frankly one of the best inventions ever made.
Needless to say I have put in much work with my Foreman grill.
One of my favorites being bonesless, skinless buffalo chicken thighs.
Ahhhh, how I love thee.
What'f funny is that I used to work at Hooters wayyyy back in the day and absolutely swore off buffalo wings.
It's literally taken me years to get over this stigma.
But this little recipe has done the trick.
It isn't just one of my favorite things to make on the grill, but one of Jermaine's favorite things as well.
Tonight was a buffalo chicken type of night. With broccoli of course.

 I always use this stuff when I want a buffalo flavoring on my chicken. 

 Place the chicken in a ziplock bag

 Add the seasoning to the chicken and shake it up!

Place the shaken chicken in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

 Now grill it!!

 I made some steamed broccoli on the side

Voila!!

This was so incredibly good and easy to make. 

What kind of buffalo seasoning do you guys use and do you ever use them on anything other than wings??

Canon Meet...well..Canon.

So as I mentioned before in my previous post Tax Return Wishlist I really wanted a DSLR.
I had done tons of research over the last year trying to decide which one I was going to buy, and up until recently I thought I had my mind set on the one I wanted.
The camera I have been using was my Canon s95, a point and shoot that I purchased last year and ran me almost $400 bucks (which is still a bad little bitch in its own right), but I think when I bought the s95 I was wanting for it to BE a DSLR.
So once I decided I was going to purchase a DSLR I knew that it was going to be quite the investment. And I wanted to invest in something I would have for years to come without the dire need to upgrade.
For one thing most DSLR's run you no less than $500 bucks, and thats WITHOUT a lens. So which ever one I chose to get I knew I would have for a VERY, VERY long time since in no way is this girl made of money.
Second thing I needed to decide is; what kind of DSLR I was going to get.
 I had pretty much narrowed my choices down to Canon and Nikon, but which one to choose?
After much research, comparisons, etc... I decided I would go with the brand I was more familiar with; Canon.
Now it was which Canon??
I pretty much new I wasn't going to get the 5D or 7D because they yielded a pretty high price tag, and since I had no professional photography experience other than my point and shoot it made no since for me to get those.
Then there was the 60D. Ahhh the 60D. Now that price tag I could somewhat swing and based on reviews it was a good mid grade DSLR that I could transition from being a newbie to semi-pro with, and not require an immediate upgrade.
My mind was pretty much 98% made up to get the 60D, that is until I went into Bestbuy and met Kirk.
Kirk, was the camera sales associate who knew EVERYTHING there was to know about DSLR's. In fact while talking to Kirk, it really make me realize how I didn't know about photography.
But none the less he opened my eyes to the less expensive Canon Rebel T3i and how similar the specs for the 60D and Rebel were with the Rebel yielding a much cheaper price tag.
This I liked.
Ofcourse I didn't buy my camera at Best Buy because quite frankly I knew I could find a better deal online and so I did.
And that ladies and gentlemen is how this little lady got her first DSLR.